The MataBlog is edited by Matador Records’ co-moaner Gerard Cosloy and individual entries are the work of whoever’s name is next to them. If you enjoyed something in the MataBlog, thank you very much! If there was something you found particularly troubling, please be advised that a) maybe you should read it again and b) the contents of this blog do not necessarily represent the opinions of Matador Records, Beggars Group, the combined staff of either company, nor the Matador artist roster. Opinions are like friends — hardly anyone has one worth listening to.

"A collection of songs that articulates that fury and despair with such authority, it deserves to become the soundtrack for whatever future documentary montage captures the mess of 2017. It’s galvanizing, uncompromising, and uplifting, and it should speak to everyone who still has some fight left in them." - Sean O'Neal, The A/V Club

Today marks the long-awaited release date for Algiers' incendiary 2nd album, the critically-acclaimed 'The Underside Of Power', available on digital, CD and LP formats at the url below. The first song from the Adrian Utley and Ali Chant-produced masterpiece, "Walk Like A Panther" (featuring a sample culled from a speech by Chicago Black Panther Fred Hampton), can be heard above in lyric video form.

In addition to the previously announced European stadium dates supporting Depeche Mode and this summer's headlining club shows in North America, Algiers have more US dates happening in September supporting !!! (see below).

“The title Villains isn’t a political statement. It has nothing to do with Trump or any of that shit. It’s simply 1) a word that looks fantastic and 2) a comment on the three versions of every scenario: yours, mine and what actually happened… Everyone needs someone or something to rail against—their villain—same as it ever was. You can’t control that. The only thing you can really control is when you let go."—Joshua Homme

Hundreds of epic shows, memory lapses, unexplained injuries, one yearlong detour with Iggy Pop and multiple Grammy nominations later, Queens Of The Stone Age reemerge from the desert newly scarred and somehow strangely prettier with lucky seventh album, 'Villains', out August 25 on Matador Records. Now available for preorder on deluxe vinyl, standard vinyl, CD and digital, 'Villains' consists of the following songs:

1. Feet Don’t Fail Me2. The Way You Used To Do3. Domesticated Animals4. Fortress5. Head Like A Haunted House6. Un-Reborn Again7. Hideaway8. The Evil Has Landed9. Villains Of Circumstance

Produced by Mark Ronson and co-produced by Mark Rankin and mixed by Alan Moulder, 'Villains' is the first full album offering from Queens Of The Stone Age since 2013’s '…Like Clockwork' gave the band its first #1 album in the U.S. (and #1s in Australia, Belgium, Ireland, Portugal, Scotland, #2s in the UK, Canada, Switzerland, Norway, New Zealand, Finland… but really, who’s counting?). Like the stunning artwork of returning illustrator Boneface, the sonic signatures of the lineup that took '…Like Clockwork' around the world and back—Founder/guitarist/vocalist/lyricist Joshua Homme, Troy Van Leeuwen (guitar, keys), Michael Shuman (bass), Dean Fertita (keys, guitar), Jon Theodore (drums)—are as unmistakable as ever, though coexisting with sufficient new twists to induce recurring double takes. As Homme himself puts it, “The most important aspect of making this record was redefining our sound, asking and answering the question 'what do we sound like now?' If you can’t make a great first record, you should just stop—but if you can make a great record but you keep making records and your sound doesn’t evolve, you become a parody of that original sound."

Of his role working within such a closed and confident ecosystem as Queens Of The Stone Age, Ronson says, "Queens are and have always been my favorite rock n roll band ever since I walked into Tower on Sunset and bought 'Rated R' in the summer of 2000, so it was incredibly surreal to be welcomed into their secret, pirate clan—or the ‘jacuzzi’ as Josh likes to call it. I also knew that my super fandom alone would not keep me in the jacuzzi. There were moments during the making of the album in which i was aware i was watching my musical heroes craft something that was sure to become one of my favorite moments on any Queens album. And to have some part in that felt like being in a dream--a very heavy, dark, wonderful dream.”

Longtime Queens cohort co-producer Mark Rankin added, "After the baptism of fire that was …Like Clockwork, I was excited to get into the studio again with the challenge of pushing the sound for this record, especially with the the addition of Ronson into the creative mix. We wanted to evolve the production to be processed in a modern way yet be totally organic and still performed fully live, like lifting a veil and what you thought was electronic is actually live and things are not as they first appear… What we’ve made is forward looking yet unmistakably Queens."

Queens Of The Stone Age have also confirmed a slew of North American dates filling in the space between and beyond their previously announced appearances at Outside Lands and Riot Fest. The new shows, which include Queens’ first ever Madison Square Garden headline, are detailed below. For further information, keep an eye on Queens Of The Stone Age sites and socials and just let go.

Customers ordering any format off the Matador store are entitled to Jump The Q when ordering tickets for the upcoming tour, visit http://presale.qotsa.com for info and access (by participating in this promotion, entrants hereby agree to the collection and usage of their personal information to enable Matador and Ticketmaster to fulfill this promotion)

All Matador Store customers will receive an exclusive sticker sheet, featuring artwork designed by Boneface.

Pre-order the deluxe LP edition from Matador for the chance to find a golden ticket awarding you a pair of tickets to the headline show of your choice.” (Entries also accepted by mailing a letter to QOTSA Tickets c/o Matador Records, 134 Grand St. New York, NY 10013)

Deluxe LP comes pressed on heavyweight 180 gram vinyl at Pallas and includes 14 limited-edition Boneface art prints and an etching on side 4 of the vinyl and includes an MP3 and FLAC download coupon.

Standard and Indie Retail Edition LP's (the latter sleeve above) are pressed on 140 gram vinyl with an etching on side 4 of the vinyl and includes an MP3 and FLAC download coupon. The Indie LP will feature alternate cover art from the original.

"A recurring theme in our music is the idea of injustice and the bitter understanding that obtaining justice in this world is all but impossible--particularly for black and brown people. I wanted the song to sound like the Final Judgement in the Bible, wherein the wicked are judged and condemned by the righteous with all the 'weeping and gnashing of teeth,' of the damned when justice is finally realized. This translates in the 'solo' section of the song. It consists of various recordings of people inconsolably crying and weeping while the guitar and lead vocal mirror their contortions. If you’ve ever witnessed something like that in real life, sound of a person’s sorrow is equal parts frightening and musical." - Franklin James Fisher

We're 10 days away from the global release of Algiers' hotly anticipated 2nd album, the Adrian Utely-produced 'The Underside Of Power', and with that in mind, here's the premiere of another track from this crucial work, "Cleveland". Algiers' updated tour itinerary, with headlining North American dates starting July 13 following European stadium shows supporting Depeche Mode, can be found below.

As Spoon's relentless global tour in support of album-of-the-year candidate 'Hot Thoughts' continues next week, the band have made available a remixed version of "Can I Sit Next To You". as conceived by Tyler Pope (LCD Soundsystem, Chk Chk Chk). Purchase or stream the remix here.

We are pleased, no wait OVERJOYED to announce that Kurt Vile & Courtney Barnett will be touring North America this fall with an all-star band. This announcement comes alongside the news that the two have completed a collaboration album that will be released later this year...

(photo credit: Danny Cohen)The inter-continental duo will share the stage, performing songs off their upcoming album as well as delving into their respective back catalogues and covering a bunch of classics, all backed by their band ‘The Sea Lice,’ a revolving cast of musicians including Janet Weiss (Sleater-Kinney, Wild Flag), Stella Mozgawa (Warpaint), Rob Laakso (The Violators, The Swirlies, Mice Parade) and Katie Harkin (Harkin, Sky Larkin and touring member of Sleater-Kinney and Wild Beasts). “A cookin’ band and an intercontinental country duo for the ages—minus the country,” says Vile.

Courtney recalls the seeds of the collaboration:

“In 2014 I scored a support slot opening for Kurt at the Abbotsford Convent [outside Melbourne]. We met briefly after the show but I was a bit nervous and didn’t wanna bother him, just grateful for the gig. Years later we started bumping into each other on the festival circuit all around the wide world and we became friends. He hit me up when he was coming to Melbourne next and said he thought we could work together.”

As Kurt tells it:

“I just love her voice in general... great lyrics of course... I love all her music but the song that really hit me was "Depreston"—I know it's popular but her voice is so good in that song and it's so pretty and sincere... i'm a sucker for that kinda song: instant classic.

It started out as, maybe we'll do a split 7" together but then I figured let's make it a 12" so it doesn't get lost in the world, shoot for 5 songs. It wasn't until i had another KV tour booked for the following summer in Oz that we thought we should record as much as we can, just see what happens, no major goal to make it a full length, but it came together that way ‘cause the vibe was so strong with everyone.”

For Courtney, the admiration is mutual:

I’m a huge Kurt fan. Smoke Ring was one of my first purchases on vinyl. I was getting over a big break-up, unemployed and drifting and I would just lie on my bed and listen to ‘Peepin' Tom’ on repeat. One of the most beautiful and luscious albums I ever heard. Me and Jen fell in love to that album.”

Kurt and Courtney have partnered with Plus 1 so that $1 from every ticket goes to support the ACLU and their work defending and protecting our individual rights and liberties. Support for the Courtney Barnett and Kurt Vile (and The Sea Lice) tour will be Australian songwriter Jen Cloher.

The album is the result of 8 days in the studio spread over almost 15 months when Courtney and Kurt’s respective touring schedules allowed for them to be in the same place at the same time. It will be released later this year jointly by Matador Records, Marathon Artists and Milk! Records.

Tickets for the tour go on sale on Friday, but you can grab them early using the code BLUEBERRYHILL today starting at noon in your local market.

Just a reminder for those of you in or around NYC for this weekend's Governor's Ball festival that Car Seat Headrest will be hitting the stage at Webster Hall tonight around 10:30pm, followed by an appearance at the Big Apple Stage at beautiful Randall's Island, tomorrow at 2:30pm (and you have to admit that "Big Apple Stage" sounds a little more glamorous than "Piles Of Trash Blowing In Heavy Winds Stage", though perhaps they were also pressed for space. The up-to-date Car Seat Headrest tour schedule can be found below :

ABOUT

The MataBlog is edited by Matador Records’ co-moaner Gerard Cosloy and individual entries are the work of whoever’s name is next to them. If you enjoyed something in the MataBlog, thank you very much! If there was something you found particularly troubling, please be advised that a) maybe you should read it again and b) the contents of this blog do not necessarily represent the opinions of Matador Records, Beggars Group, the combined staff of either company, nor the Matador artist roster. Opinions are like friends — hardly anyone has one worth listening to.